


After the storm, the quiet

by this_is_everything



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Betrayal, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Partner Betrayal, Post-Betrayal, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Tony Stark Feels, True Love, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:00:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23298190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/this_is_everything/pseuds/this_is_everything
Summary: Set right after civil war, Tony is heartbroken'It was so cold, he couldn’t feel his face anymore but he was pretty sure he had a broken nose. Everything felt broken somehow even the present moment, like something vital was missing. Someone.He sat in silence, contemplating that even the colors seemed to have faded to dull spots of non grayish matter or maybe that was just the setting sun and with it, the darkness wavering in.'
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 175





	After the storm, the quiet

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry I just can't seem to write happy Steve x Tony since watching Civil War. It just broke everything. I want them to be happy but the betrayal is just too much 😭.

There's not a thing I could say

Not a song I could sing

For your mind to change

Nothing can fill up the space

Won't ask you to stay

But let me ask you one thing

Oh, when did you fall out of love?

Out of love

Oh, when did you fall out of love with me?

\- Out of Love by Alessia Cara

Tony stared at the wall blankly. It must have been hours since he moved, his muscles screaming but even breathing hurt at this point. So he sat unmoving, looking at the opposite gray wall where he could see his own blood dry. It was so cold, he couldn’t feel his face anymore but he was pretty sure he had a broken nose. Everything felt broken somehow even the present moment, like something vital was missing. _Someone._

He sat in silence, contemplating that even the colors seemed to have faded to dull spots of non grayish matter or maybe that was just the setting sun and with it, the darkness wavering in.

His reactor began to flicker. He was running out of power and fast. He had to get out, contact someone, anyone and tell them where he was before the splinters started moving again. He grabbed Cap’s shield, ignoring what it meant, because thinking of Steve Rogers would probably make Tony break down again. He wrestled himself into a standing position, almost toppling over when he felt a sharp pain in his ribcage. Some ribs were probably broken, but he wasn’t spitting blood so he hoped that they weren’t doing too much damage in there.

Using the shield as a crutch and the walls as support, he staggered to the exit.

It felt like ages until he finally reached open air and it felt like he might pass out right this second.

He had signal. He send a message to the Avengers Tower and dropped ungracefully into the snow and something made a tearing sound and he had to bite down hard on his lip to keep from screaming.

Then he lied motionless, looking at the clear blue but slowly darkening sky. There was no other sound but the wind.

Tony tried to keep his eyes open but they suddenly weighed too much. Every part of his body was in pain and he desperately wanted to sleep only to wake up and find out that all of this had been a dream, that Steve hadn’t actually left him behind broken and bleeding to die on his own, that Steve hadn’t left him for the assassin of his parents. None of this had to be true if he just went to sleep and dreamt of the days where Steve still loved him.

He slowly let go of whatever force was keeping him awake and slowly fell into darkness.

When he woke up, he was attached to wires and tubes and the constant beeping reminded him of how much he hated hospitals. He vaguely remembered dreaming about his first date with Steve. How flustered the soldier had been to every flirty comment Tony had said, all old school and terribly shy. How Steve had stood in front of him, one morning, blushing and stuttering until he managed to string the sentence "Would you go on a date with me?" together.

That evening they ate and went dancing and that was the moment Tony decided he would spend a couple of hundred dollars to teach Steve how to dance because no way was Tony gonna date someone with whom he couldn’t show off on the dance floor, and honestly it had to be done because those movements where a disgrace to all of human evolution.

They never got to take those dance class in the end, Tony realized, his heart growing heavy. There had always been new and even more dangerous threats ruining their Saturday dates.

He shifted with a groan and felt delicate hands adjusting his head on the pillow. He looked up and was met with brown eyes. Peter was wearing a mix of what looked like shelter clothes and more expensive pieces that reminded him of Rhodey.

"Hey Pets.", he whispered, his voice raspy. Gratefulness washing over him at the thought that the Avengers (at least the one’s that stayed) had taken Peter under his wing while Tony was out.

"Dad.", Peter answered, his voice barely a whisper itself, as if Tony might break if he spoke too loud. His bambie-eyes looked tired and sad, so _sad_.

The Tv was on, and Tony saw pictures of Steve, Sam and Natasha appear on the screen.

So they hadn’t been caught yet. Which was something of a relief for him even if it had a bitter after taste.

When he looked back at Peter he saw that the boy’s look had darkened, now focused on the hands in his lap.

"I hate him.", he said.

It broke Tony’s heart. Peter had always adored Captain America, Steve. And had been so excited when he learned that, after months of dating, Steve would be joining their household, firmly achieved by the ring on Tony’s ring-finger. His left hand felt heavy between the kid’s warm fingers, he could see the small band of metal laughing cruelly at him but there was no strength in him to pull it off, so it stayed there, a burning reminder of his failure, of his deceit.

"I hate him for what he did to you and if I ever see him again, I will kill him myself.", Peter spat. Tony closed his eyes.

Steve had ripped a superhero-sized hole into Peter’s soft heart and now the boy was bleeding out in front of Tony’s eyes, instead filling it with bitterness and hate.

His baby, _God his baby_ , Steve had ruined everything.

"Don’t say that." He said softly, and reached for Peter’s hand, held it as tightly as he could which wasn’t very much to begin with.

"Why not?", Peter half whispered, half shouted. Tony tried to smile but it hurt too much, so he settled for rubbing his thumb over the back of Peter’s hand.

"Because you love him. And you wouldn’t forgive yourself."

"Bullshit! What I cannot forgive, is that he just left you there! You could’ve died! You almost did! And he just didn’t care."

Peter was looking far away now.

"If he betrays so easily, how can we trust that anything he said or did is real. Everything could be fake."

The truth was, Tony knew, deep in his heart that Steve was the best man that walked this earth. Brutaly loyal and a bad liar he would’ve never been able to fake his love for Tony. That was the problem. He knew how much Steve loved him, saw it in his eyes whenever they spoke, knew it in the way the other collapsed around him after making love to him, felt it in every hitched breath and beaming grin, knew in every way of how deep Steve’s love ran for him. And he knew he wasn’t the only one hurting.

But Bucky Barnes was Steve’s first friend, his oldest friend, the only thing connecting him to a long lost past. And somewhere along their life, even with all of Tony left bare for him to take, Steve chose James Buchanan Barnes, made him the most treasured possession in the universe, decided that this man, this killer was worth everything, even if it meant for Steve to lose his entire new life. He didn’t just leave, no, Steve made sure to burn down all the bridges and all the loved places, to make his return impossible, because the things he had done were to atrocious to forgive, and they both knew it. The unfairness of it all stung.

"I love him. So please don’t hurt him. He is a good man." He answered and watched as Peter broke into himself.

It seemed like the boy wanted to say something, shout, tear the place apart but Tony feigned sleepiness, letting his eyes fall close. So instead Peter reached for his hand again, pressed his face down next to it. Tony felt tears pearl onto his fingertips, right next to the grieving boy’s eyes that were pressed close.

He wanted all of this to be over, to wake up and find Steve asleep next to him, his face close to Peter’s, his big hand resting on Tony’s thigh, grounding him.

He wished back to all those summer nights, kissing and laughing, running around like dumb teenagers because they were constantly drunk on their love.

He really wanted to cry, to drown in the pain that locked down his chest, that made it hard to breathe, to be.

For a moment he thought of dying, how it would make everything stop and just finally put him to peace because living without Steve seemed like something impossible to survive.

Then he looked back to Peter. His baby who was probably in as much pain as he was, who had lost one parent and feared for the life of the other.

He felt his eyelids drop.

"You did good Buddy." He whispered before he drifted off again.


End file.
